August 24, 2026

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Hi Everyone,

In 2006, Jason Fried got an email from Jeff Bezos's assistant. Bezos wanted to meet. Fried flew to Seattle, and after a few more calls, Bezos bought a small piece of Basecamp. That's the only investor Fried has ever said yes to. Hundreds of VCs, PE firms, and private investors have approached the company since, and the answer has been no every time.

Few of us decline that easily. An investor email is flattering, and a no can feel like giving up an option you might want in two years.

Today we're sharing a three-line reply that declines politely, keeps your options open, and takes two minutes to send.

Won't a no hurt the relationship?

Investors hear "we're not raising" all the time, and the good ones respect it.

Natalie Sandman, a partner at Spark Capital, wrote a guide for founders on handling inbound interest, and her advice treats declining as a normal part of the relationship.

A useful no gives the investor something to plan around. Silence tells them nothing, so they keep emailing. A clear no with a rough timeline tells them when a follow-up is welcome, and most will wait.

Some of that inbound isn't worth protecting anyway. Julian Weisser, co-founder of On Deck, warns that founders who take every meeting attract investors who are gathering information for companies they've already funded.

The three-line reply

Here is the reply, built on Sandman's advice. Adjust the details and save it somewhere you can reuse it.

Thanks for reaching out, and thank you for the kind words about the business.

We're not raising right now, and the earliest we'd revisit that is late next year.

If you'll be at [event you're attending], come say hello. Otherwise, feel free to check back in around that time.

If the investor came through a mutual contact, name them in the first line. The timeline can be vague, and investors know it may change. What stops the monthly check-ins is naming a time when a follow-up is welcome.

And the event mention swaps an hour-long meeting for a five-minute hello, because as Sandman points out, an investor who genuinely wants to meet you will make the trip.

If you're bootstrapped and the emails come from private equity, the middle line becomes "we're not looking for outside capital, and that's unlikely to change."

When to take the meeting

Weisser has a test for the exceptions. Imagine this investor offered you money tomorrow, on decent terms.

Would you take it without asking other funds what they'd offer?

For most founders, only a handful of investors in the world pass that test. If the person in your inbox is one of them, take the meeting. If not, send the reply above.

The other exception is when you need something from the call. Investors talk to dozens of companies a week, so they know what businesses like yours are worth right now.

They also know whether money in your market is getting easier or harder to raise. Go in with those two questions and the meeting works for you.

Go deeper

👉 Natalie Sandman: "We're Not Raising": A Founder's Guide to Managing Investor Conversations — see her screenshots of real founder replies, and the four situations where a call is still worth your time.

👉 Julian Weisser: Building investor relationships between rounds — use his litmus test the next time a fund you admire asks for coffee between rounds.

👉 Jason Fried: How much is Basecamp worth? I don't know and I don't care — read this if you want the full story behind one yes and hundreds of nos.

👉 Sageview Capital: Narrowing the investor funnel — a PE firm's own advice on keeping a shortlist of 3–6 firms with 2–4 touches a year instead of an open door.

Coming up tomorrow

In tomorrow's issue, you'll learn one test for every all-hands agenda item, and what to do with the items that fail it.

Have a great week.

P.S. Jason Fried said yes once, 20 years ago, and hasn't since. You have to admire the consistency.